3 Surprising Companies Growing with Direct Mail

It’s written off as old-fashioned by some, but direct mail growth marketing pays off for a surprising number of modern marketers. These marketers enjoy significant returns by adding direct mail automation to their integrated marketing campaigns. If you’re wondering why digital-first growth marketers swear by direct mail despite sophisticated digital tools available, there are several arguments they make:

4 Reasons Growth Marketers Turn to Postcard Marketing

Direct mail helps online-based businesses stand out from their competitors, who are typically focused on email and social.

These are just a few reasons growth marketers use direct mail, but to truly understand the case for postcard marketing, you’ve got to check out the proof. Let’s talk about some of the businesses that are actually growing with direct mail.You probably already know from sorting your own mail that big box and specialty retailers (from Bed, Bath & Beyond to Ikea to The North Face) lean heavily on direct mail for growth. Here are a few additional brands that are killing it with direct mail.

3 Modern Businesses Growing Fast with Direct Mail Marketing

Kopari Beauty. This direct-to-consumer beauty brand relies on a mix of old-school and new-school marketing. Company co-founder James Brennan told Inc. the company trusts direct mail for high-impact marketing. Kopari’s marketing team knows that while direct mail costs more than email, it also makes a stronger and more lasting impression. “It’s about catching their eye,” Inc. quoted Brennan. While the company’s mailers are certainly designed to convert, Brennan said impressions are just as important. The company is succeeding on both fronts, garnering an average response rate of 2.5-3% from its direct mail (three times the national average of email).

Bite Squad.This online-based restaurant delivery service relies on Inkit to help keep customers in its 30+ markets active. Bite Squad’s retention mailers have proved very successful, delivering up to an 18% redemption rate. Senior marketing manager Mike Black explained that the brand successfully targets and reactivates dormant customers by integrating Inkit with its CRM. This allows the company to set triggers to mail win-back postcards as soon as a customer reaches a certain risk level, essentially putting a highly successful direct mail reactivation campaign on auto-pilot.

SoFi. This fintech’s remarkable growth has been driven by a powerful marketing engine. Fast Company reported that SoFi spent $170 million in marketing in 2017, and direct mail is no small part of the budget. The company mails close to 15 million pieces each month, putting it in the same league as Goldman Sachs. SoFi CMO Joanne Bradford explained to Fast Company that although direct mail is an expensive acquisition play, the company has found its targeting to be effective and efficient—especially when used as part of a multi-channel approach with TV advertising.

As these companies show, direct mail is having a major moment. It is no longer an archaic, poorly targeted, sluggish or manual medium. Direct mail is used in nearly 60% of all marketing campaigns today, which is more than social media, display ads and paid search, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s 2016 Response Rate Report. This is because modern growth marketers are seeing results from direct mail.